The Best Uses of Licensed Music in Games: Then and Now

While there are a few cartridge based games that used licensed music (Rock n’ Roll Racing, and Spider-Man: Maximum Carnage come to mind), the emergence of optical disc-based media for games brought this aspect to the forefront. For the first time ever, the Fantastic Neighborhood guys collaborate on an article that shows a few of the best older examples of licensed music making awesome soundtracks, and some more recent examples of specific songs making an experience or scene more impactful
(Crazy Taxi, Culture, Grand Theft Auto III, Jet Set Radio HD, Red Dead Redemption, Retro, Saints Row: The Third, Spec Ops: The Line)